Thabiso Sekgala Explained

Thabiso Sekgala (1981 – 15 October 2014) was a South African photographer. His work was about "land, peoples’ movement, identity and the notion of home".^[1] Sekgala's photography was published in a book, Paradise (2014) and exhibited posthumously at the Hayward Gallery in London.

Life and work

Sekgala was born in Soweto, a township in the suburbs of Johannesburg.^{[2] [3]} He was raised by his grandmother in a settlement near Hammanskraal, in what was then the rural Bantustan (or "homeland") of KwaNdebele,^[3] 40 km north of the city of Pretoria.^{[1] [4]}

He studied photography at Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg from 2007 to 2008. His photographs were, in the words of Hannah Abel-Hirsch writing in the British Journal of Photography, "united by their exploration of the notion of home, and the social, political, or economic conditions that may shape our relationship to it."^[3]

In 2012 Sekgala and Philippe Chancel "travelled to Magopa to investigate the problem of contemporary restitution of land in the so-called Black Spots, from which black South Africans were expelled under the apartheid-era “forced removals” programme".^[5] In 2013 he lived in Kreuzberg in Berlin for a year-long residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien^[6] and undertook a two month residency at HIWAR/Durant Al Funun in Amman, Jordan.^[6]

He committed suicide on 15 October 2014, aged 33, a few months after the death of his grandmother.^{[1] [2] [7]} He had a son and a daughter.^[1]

Publications

Publications by Sekgala

• Paradise. Dortmund: Kettler, 2014. Edited by Nicola Müllerschön and Christoph Tannert. . With essays by Simon Njami and Matthew Alexander Post (Post Brothers). Catalogue published on the occasion of an exhibition at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin.^[8]

Publications with contributions by Sekgala

• Shoe Shop. Johannesburg: Jacana, 2012. Edited by Marie-Hélène Gutberlet and Cara Snyman. . Includes "Where is home?" by Sekgala.^{[3] [9]}
• Peregrinate: Field notes on time travel and space. South Africa: Goethe-Institut, 2013. By Sekgala, Mimi Cherono Ng'ok, and Musa N. Nxumalo.
• Recent Histories: Contemporary African Photography and Video Art. Göttingen: Steidl, 2017. . With an essay by Daniela Baumann. Published on the occasion of an exhibition at The Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm, Germany, 2017.

Solo exhibitions

• Homeland, Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg, 2011^[1]
• Here is Elsewhere, Hayward Gallery, London, 2019. Photographs from the series Homeland (2009–2011), Domestic (2012), Second Transition (2012), Running, Amman (2013) and Paradise (2013)^{[3] [4] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]}

Awards

• 2010: Tierney Fellowship, New York City^[1]

See also

• History of South Africa (1994–present)

External links

• • "Life after apartheid: images from the new South Africa", a gallery of photographs at The Guardian
• "John Fleetwood on the work of Thabiso Sekgala"

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sean O'. Toole. 2019-09-07. Thabiso Sekgala: Suicide stills another rising star. The M&G Online. 24 October 2014.
2. Web site: 2019-09-07. Obituary: South African Photographer Thabiso Sekgala, 33. 20 October 2014. Photo District News.
3. Web site: 2019-09-07. A new pictorial language for post-apartheid South Africa. 2 September 2019. British Journal of Photography.
4. News: Tim. Adams. 2019-09-07. The big picture: the heart of South Africa's homelands. The Guardian. 18 August 2019. 0261-3077. www.theguardian.com.
5. Web site: 2019-09-08. Transition: Contested landscapes in South Africa. www.newstatesman.com.
6. Web site: 2019-09-08. Post-apartheid South Africa in Pictures. Goethe-Institut.
7. Web site: 2019-09-07. The passing of Thabiso Sekgala. Market Photo Workshop. 17 October 2014.
8. Web site: 2019-09-08. Paradise - Thabiso Sekgala - Kettler Verlag. www.mottodistribution.com.
9. Book: Marie-Hélène. Gutberlet. Cara. Snyman. Goethe-Institut.. Shoe shop. 2012. Jacana Media. Johannesburg. 9781920196431. 822228793. Open WorldCat.
10. Web site: 2019-09-08. Here Is Elsewhere: Thabiso Sekgala's photographs of the 'born-free generation' of South Africa. 13 August 2019. Creative Boom.
11. Web site: Thabiso Sekgala: Here Is Elsewhere Southbank Centre. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20190817120703/https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/hayward-gallery-art/thabiso-sekgala. 2019-08-17.
12. Web site: 2019-09-07. Thabiso Sekgala: Here is Elsewhere review. Time Out London.
13. Web site: 2019-09-07. Thabiso Sekgala's Alternative Portrait of Life in Contemporary South Africa. AnotherMan.
14. Web site: 2019-09-07. Thabiso Sekgala. metalmagazine.eu.